Editor’s note:This is the fifth in the 10-part Morris Communications series “The case for conserving the Kenai king salmon.” Find previous stories online at www.peninsulaclarion.com.

For a young state, Alaska has a long history with fisheries management.

Alaska’s desire to manage fisheries, and salmon in particular, was a driving force during the push for statehood, and more than a century before that, the commercial fishing industry was a major component of the United States purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1857.